Overview

Since Clean Boutique opened up shop in 2009, the company has expanded from its original focus on natural and organic health and beauty care merchandise. Today, the retailer also carries vitamins, supplements and other products—30,000 in all—which are sold through various online marketplaces, including ebay.

Much of that growth has come since Clean Boutique made Pitney Bowes its primary partner for parcel delivery. Pitney Bowes enables Clean Boutique to exceed customer delivery expectations while saving both time and money— helping the retailer stay competitive and continue its upward trajectory.

Business challenge

Clean Boutique is committed to providing stellar customer service. When it comes to shipping and delivery that means ensuring customers receive orders quickly— no matter where they live. At the same time, Clean Boutique prides itself on charging less for shipping than competitors.

Even when Clean Boutique was a fraction of its current size, the fledgling retailer knew it needed a better shipping partner. The company faced many challenges with its previous carrier, such as unmet requests for daily pickups. Seeking a partner who was “attentive to our needs,” says Harari, the merchant spoke to Pitney Bowes and just about all of its competitors in the parcel consolidator space.

Solution

“It’s a great service that gets product there in a short period of time, but it’s not as expensive as some of the second-day or priority options.”
Amin Harari, Co-Founder, Clean Boutique

As a result of their search for a new shipping partner, Clean Boutique began partnering with Pitney Bowes for the majority of its parcel volume around the start of 2012. “In the end,” Harari recalls, “their transit times would be longer than Pitney Bowes’ and their costs would be higher.”

Delivery from Pitney Bowes is a postal-based shipping solution with delivery times comparable to the ground services offered by national parcel carriers—3-5 days on average—but without the high price.

“It’s a great service that gets product there in a short period of time, but it’s not as expensive as some of the second-day or priority options,” Harari says. “We pass the majority of that savings along to our customers to drive more sales.”

While Clean Boutique reduces its shipping costs with Pitney Bowes, the partnership also helps the retailer save time. Pitney Bowes doesn’t require clients to pre-weigh parcels before pickup, unlike other carriers. To ensure accuracy, Clean Boutique weighs about 25 parcels weekly to compare against Pitney Bowes’ billing files. “From an operational perspective, that has saved us a significant amount of time,” Harari says. “So we batch-print hundreds of labels at a time as we take orders throughout the day, and process the same day as well.”

Benefits

Nearly half of Clean Boutique’s shipments are under a pound, and that’s the weight class where the merchant has seen the greatest cost reduction with Pitney Bowes. Overall, Harari says his company saves up to 25% per package, depending on the zone.

Clean Boutique also shaves at least 25% off the time it takes to prepare shipments since they’re no longer pre-weighed. And as Harari notes, “time is money.”

“We’re extremely happy with just about every single aspect of the partnership,” he says. “Pitney Bowes helps us stay competitive in an industry that is defined by tight margins and high efficiencies.”